Full name | Watersheddings |
---|---|
Location | Oldham, England |
Capacity | 9,000 |
Record attendance | 28,000 |
Construction | |
Built | 1889 |
Opened | 1889 |
Closed | 1997 |
Tenants | |
Oldham Rugby League Club (1889–1997) |
Watersheddings was the site of a former rugby league stadium in the Watersheddings area of Oldham in Greater Manchester, England. Historically it was in Lancashire, lying on the A672 (Ripponden Road) approximately 2 miles north east of Oldham town centre.
Watersheddings was reportedly the highest professional RL ground in the UK at 770 ft above sea level, which would also list it as the highest ground of any professional sport in the UK. [1]
The stadium known as Watersheddings, named after the area of Oldham where it was located in, was built in 1889. It was constructed on the east side of a reservoir, Ruby Mill and Longfield Mill and north of Longfield Lane. At the same time the Oldham Cricket Ground was built adjacent to the stadium on its east side and a lawn tennis ground was constructed on its north side. [2]
Oldham Football Club (more commonly known as Oldham Rugby League Football Club) moved from their Clarksfield Ground and played their first match at the new Watersheddings stadium on 28 September 1889 against Swinton. [1]
In 1904 Watershedding was selected to host the very first Rugby league International between England and Other Nationalities on New Year's Day 1904 but the game was cancelled due to a frozen pitch, and held instead in April at Central Park, Wigan. In 1912, the stadium achieved its highest ever attendance of 28,000 against Huddersfield. [1] In the 1914/15 season Watershedding was selected to host the Challenge Cup final
year | Teams | Score | Team | Venue | Attendance |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1914–15 | Huddersfield | 37–3 | St. Helens | Watersheddings, Oldham | 8,000 |
In 1933 the cricket ground was demolished making way for the Oldham Greyhound Stadium; the south stand and kennels were erected next to the south-east corner of the Watersheddings ground. [3] The Watersheddings floodlights were used for the first time on Wednesday 20 October 1965, when a crowd of 6,333 attended an under-24 international between Great Britain and France. [1]
The club left Watersheddings in 1997 and, now called Oldham R.L.F.C., moved to Oldham Athletic AFC's Boundary Park stadium before they moved to Whitebank Stadium in 2010. [4] The Watersheddings site was redeveloped into housing now called Watersheddings Way and Hutchins Lane.
Watersheddings also hosted numerous county vs county games with Lancashire hosting various other county sides including the Rugby League War of the Roses matches against Yorkshire. The results were as follows:
Game | Date | Result | Attendance |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 7 December 1895 | Yorkshire def. Lancashire 8–0 | 9,059 |
2 | 21 November 1896 | Lancashire def. Yorkshire 7–3 | 7,000 |
3 | 16 October 1897 | Lancashire def. Cheshire 11–10 | 7,000 |
4 | 21 October 1899 | Lancashire def. Cumberland 17–7 | 8,500 |
5 | 12 November 1904 | Yorkshire def. Lancashire 14–5 | 8,500 |
The stadium, in its time, played host to many Australian and New Zealand national teams who played tour games against Oldham and the Lancashire county side, the first being against the 1907 touring New Zealand team, the last being against Australia in 1986.
Game | Date | Result | Attendance | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 23 November 1907 | Oldham def. New Zealand 8–7 | 15,000 | 1907–08 All Golds tour |
2 | 18 January 1908 [5] | Lancashire def. New Zealand 20–4 | ||
3 | 26 December 1908 | Oldham def. Australia 11–5 | 15,000 | 1908–09 Kangaroo Tour |
4 | 11 November 1911 | Oldham def. Australasia 14–8 | 10,000 | 1911–12 Kangaroo Tour |
5 | 26 November 1921 | Australasia def. Oldham 16–5 | 15,344 | 1921–22 Kangaroo Tour |
6 | 16 January 1922 | Oldham def. Australasia 15–5 | 6,000 | |
7 | 23 October 1926 | Oldham def. New Zealand 15–10 | 16,000 | 1926–27 New Zealand Kiwis tour |
8 | 2 November 1929 | Australasia def. Oldham 18–10 | 19,284 | 1929–30 Kangaroo Tour |
9 | 9 September 1933 | Australia def. Oldham 38–6 | 5,000 | 1933–34 Kangaroo Tour |
10 | 6 November 1937 | Australia def. Oldham 10–6 | 12,265 | 1937–38 Kangaroo Tour |
11 | 25 October 1947 | New Zealand def. Oldham 18–8 | 17,239 | 1947–48 New Zealand Kiwis tour |
12 | 4 December 1948 | Australia def. Oldham 27–7 | 14,798 | 1948–49 Kangaroo Tour |
13 | 29 September 1951 | Oldham def. New Zealand 21–18 | 15,174 | 1951–52 New Zealand Kiwis tour |
14 | 15 September 1952 | Australia drew. Oldham 7–7 | 19,620 | 1952–53 Kangaroo Tour |
15 | 29 October 1955 | New Zealand def. Oldham 15-13 | 14,700 | 1955–56 New Zealand Kiwis tour |
16 | 7 November 1956 | Oldham def. Australia 21–2 | 8,956 | 1956–57 Kangaroo Tour |
17 | 3 October 1959 | Australia def. Oldham 25–14 | 17,621 | 1959–60 Kangaroo Tour |
18 | 4 September 1961 | Oldham / Rochdale XIII def. New Zealand 10–8 | 8,795 | 1961 New Zealand Kiwis tour |
19 | 5 October 1963 | Australia def. Oldham 12–4 | 11,773 | 1963–64 Kangaroo Tour |
20 | 31 August 1965 | New Zealand def. Oldham 5–2 | 10,333 | 1965 New Zealand Kiwis tour |
21 | 11 November 1967 | Australia def. Oldham 18-8 | 3,329 | 1967–68 Kangaroo Tour |
22 | 27 October 1971 | New Zealand def. Oldham 24–13 | 1,872 | 1971 New Zealand Kiwis tour |
23 | 19 October 1973 | Australia def. Oldham 44–10 | 2,770 | 1973 Kangaroo Tour |
24 | 4 November 1975 | Australia def. Oldham 20–10 | 3,675 | 1975 Australian Rugby League World Cup tour |
25 | 4 November 1986 | Australia def. Oldham 22–16 | 5,678 | 1986 Kangaroo Tour |
The Fartown Ground or just simply Fartown is a sports ground located in the Huddersfield suburb of Fartown in West Yorkshire, England and is predominantly famous for being the home ground of Huddersfield Rugby League Club from 1878 to 1992. The grounds consisted of a rugby ground, a cricket ground used by Yorkshire County Cricket Club, Bowling greens and a running track as well as a pavilion. It was the scene of many great games, including the Challenge Cup finals of 1908 and 1910, several Challenge Cup semi finals, John Player Cup finals and international matches.
Maine Road was a football stadium in Moss Side, Manchester, England, that was home to Manchester City Football Club from 1923 to 2003. It hosted FA Cup semi-finals, the Charity Shield, a League Cup final and England matches. Maine Road's highest attendance of 84,569 was set in 1934 at an FA Cup sixth round match between Manchester City and Stoke City, a record for an English club ground.
Elland Road is a football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, which has been the home of Championship club Leeds United since the club's formation in 1919. The stadium is the 13th largest football stadium in England.
Bramall Lane is a football stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which is the home of Sheffield United.
Oldham Rugby League football Club, is a professional rugby league football club based in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. The club plays home games at Boundary Park and competes in League One, the third tier of British rugby league.
Headingley Stadium is a stadium complex in Headingley, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Linked by a two-sided stand housing common facilities, it comprises the two following separate grounds: Headingley Cricket Ground - home of Yorkshire County Cricket Club & Headingley Rugby Stadium - home of Leeds Rhinos Rugby League Club.
The Athletic Grounds was a stadium in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England. It was the home of Rochdale Hornets Rugby League Football Club for over 90 years until 1988. It has also been used for speedway, BriSCA F1 Stock Cars and greyhound racing.
Manchester City and Manchester United are popular Premier League football clubs in Greater Manchester. United's ground is in Old Trafford; Manchester City's home ground is the City of Manchester Stadium in east Manchester. Fixtures between the clubs are referred to as the Manchester Derby. Manchester United are historically the second most successful football club in England with 67 elite honours won and was the first team in England to achieve the Continental treble. Manchester United's revenue was the fifth highest of a football club in the world in the 2022–23 season at €745.8 million. In 2023, Forbes estimated the club was the second most valuable in the world at $6 billion.
The term "Roses rivalry" refers to the rivalry between the English counties of Lancashire and Yorkshire. The rivalry originated in the aftermath of the Wars of the Roses (1455–1487) which was fought between the House of Lancaster and the House of York.
Thrum Hall was a rugby league stadium on Hanson Lane in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. It was the home of Halifax for 112 years. The site on which the ground stood is now occupied by a supermarket.
Derek Turner, also known by the nickname of "Rocky", was an English World Cup winning professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, and coached in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. He played at representative level for Great Britain, England, Yorkshire and Great Britain & France, and at club level for Hull Kingston Rovers, Oldham and Wakefield Trinity (captain), with whom he won three Challenge Cup Finals, as a second-row, or more usually loose forward, and coached at club level for Castleford, Leeds and Wakefield Trinity.
Rectory Field is a sports ground in Blackheath in the Royal Borough of Greenwich in south-east London. It was developed in the 1880s by Blackheath Cricket, Football and Lawn Tennis Company and became the home ground of rugby union team Blackheath F.C. between 1883 and 2016. The ground has hosted international rugby matches and at one time, along with the Richmond Athletic Ground, it was the unofficial home of the England national rugby union team before the development of Twickenham Stadium. The ground was also used for first-class and List A cricket by Kent County Cricket Club between 1887 and 1972. The field is named after the Charlton Rectory that once stood at the site. It is used today by Blackheath Sports Club for cricket, rugby, tennis and squash.
Joseph Ferguson was an English professional rugby league footballer who played between 1899 and 1923. He played at representative level for England, Cumberland and Lancashire, and at club level for Oldham, as a fullback, prop, hooker, or second-row.
The Lancashire County Rugby Football Union is the society responsible for rugby union in the county of Lancashire, England, and is one of the constituent bodies of the national Rugby Football Union having been formed in 1881. In addition it is the county that has won the County Championship on most occasions
Stockport RFC was a Rugby League club in Stockport, Cheshire, England.
Runcorn FC was a rugby league club. Having formed in 1876 and played rugby union as members of the RFU, they joined the Northern Union in 1895, just several days after it was founded, and played in the league from 1895–96 to 1917–18.
The 1927–28 Lancashire Cup competition was the 20th competition in the history of this regional rugby league event and the final was a repeat of the 1925–26 Lancashire Cup Final, with Swinton beating Wigan by 5–2. The match was played at Watersheddings, Oldham. The attendance was 22,000 and receipts £1,275.
Headingley Cricket Ground is a cricket ground in the Headingley Stadium complex in Headingley, Leeds, England. It adjoins the Headingley Rugby Stadium through a shared main stand, although the main entrance to the cricket ground is at the opposite Kirkstall Lane end. It has hosted Test cricket since 1899 and has a capacity of 18,350.
The Oldham Greyhound Stadium was a greyhound racing stadium in the Watersheddings area in the north east of Oldham.
Castleford Sports Stadium was a Football, greyhound racing, rugby union and rugby league and multi sports stadium located on the east side of Lock Lane in Castleford, West Yorkshire. It is not to be confused with the Castleford Whitwood Stadium or the Sandy Desert ground used by Castleford Tigers, which was on the west side of Lock Lane.